Chapter Thirty-Five

Escalation

Nellie stormed down the corridors of the Bly’s Rest, sending everyone scurrying out of her way. You could track her progress through the station by the various cents sprinting as fast as possible in the other direction.

“Nellie, I think we should—” Salem stopped as Nellie stormed past her and into the landing bays.

The orb craft waiting there nearly exploded as she approached as it reorganized itself into a smooth dart. Nellie leaped into the cockpit, which closed around her like the petals of a flower closing.

“Open the door, Salem,” Nellie growled.

“Can we talk about this, please?” Salem asked.

“Open the door, or I’ll blow a hole in the side of this bay,” Nellie replied.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Salem sighed as the bay doors slid open.

“Pas de merde,” Nellie snapped and shot out of the bay, the dart accelerating toward the distant Planet Home like a round from a rail gun.

“I think a calm and reasoned approach might be more productive,” Salem’s voice came over the comm line.

“I agree,” Nellie snapped back. “I’ll consider that once I’ve shoved this dart up their collective asses and used their guts as bunting in my fucking office!”

“Perhaps I should get Lucy,” Salem replied.

“That will not be necessary,” Nellie said with a smile as an Imperium Class battleship appeared out of the Jump Gate. “She’s on her way.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Salem groaned. “I can only try to talk down one homicidal monarch at a time.”

Nellie smiled grimly as she crossed the halfway point between the station and her target. As she flew, her hands twisted on the controls, long claws growing on her fingers.

She had been patient; she had been understanding.

That ended now. They had gone too far, and someone was dying today.

Nellie was almost brushing the atmosphere of Planet Home when Lucy’s ship micro-jumped into orbit, and a second dart launched, coming to fly in formation with Nellie.

Neither of them spoke.

There was no need for words, not now.

Nellie beat Lucy down to the landing pad built on the top of Paren’s Mesa. A lot had changed in the area, but Nellie was in no mood to sight-see. Two figures waited on the edge of the pad as Nellie burst from the orb craft as it crumbled around her, pushed way beyond the redline in her flight.

Lucy’s dart never even landed; the woman herself simply dropped beside Nellie as the ship flew on to crash somewhere in the distance.

“WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?” Nellie roared.

“Oh, boy,” Paren sighed. “Salem wasn’t kidding.”

“Stop stalling, Paren,” Nellie stalked forward. “I am going to—”

“No!” Paren put out a hand, her face set in that stubborn look she got. “This is not a good idea.”

“Paren,” Nellie tried to get around Paren, but sections of the mesa kept rising to block her progress. “Lucy!”

“Happily,” Lucy growled and blurred forward, only to come to a sudden stop as Edwards stepped into her path.

“I think we should take a moment to calm down,” Carl offered gently. “No harm was done.”

“Move,” Lucy said simply. “You are fragile, and Paren would be sad if I broke you.”

“Wow!” Paren snapped. “Do you two even hear yourselves right now?”

“I am going to make them pay for this!” Nellie stopped, glaring at Paren. “I will rip their throats out and burn their homes to the ground.”

“Okay,” Paren nodded. “Just this second getting what it’s like to deal with me when I’m in a mood.”

“Right?” Edwards chuckled.

“Excuse me?” Paren asked.

“Nothing!” Carl grinned. “I didn’t say a thing.”

“Too right,” Paren sniffed. “Now, mother. Mothers. It is not fun being the calm grownup one right now, so please… calm down.”

“I am calm,” Nellie said savagely, the anger still pounding through her system.

“Says the lady with the claws threatening to burn homes to the ground,” Paren said, that irritating smirk making an appearance.

After five more minutes of stalemate with Paren and Edwards refusing to move, Nellie finally started to feel a bit more in control again. It was only then that she realized how badly she had snapped. With a flex of will, she returned her hands to their more normal appearance.

“Are we feeling calm now?” Paren asked.

“That tone is not helping.” Lucy snapped and then took a deep breath. “But yes.”

“Excellent,” Edwards said with a smile. “Now, why don’t you three chat while I go grab some HyperDrives and perhaps a small biscuit or two?”

Nellie felt herself smiling despite her anger.

“That would be nice, thank you.” Nellie sighed.

Paren waved, and a cafe table with four chairs built themselves out of silver metal right there on the top of the mesa.

“This is so weird,” Paren sighed. “I’m used to being the one who needs to be calmed down.”

“Don’t start,” Nellie groaned. “I’m only just managing to remain in control.”

“Fine, fine,” Paren said, raising her hands defensively. “They came in on one of the medical supply transports—an I.P.A. one.”

“Well, now I get to push a couple of diplomats out of an airlock,” Nellie snarled. “That’s something to look forward to.”

“No killing diplomats,” Paren said slowly. “Salem would freak.”

“Go on with the story,” Lucy prompted.

“Okay, so they are a bunch of Gold Badges from the Benediction who apparently heard I was pretty smart and wanted me to go and work for them,” Paren said before stopping. “Or they work for me. They were talking a lot, and I kind of stopped paying attention.”

“So they snuck into my space in a foreign transport and landed on one of my planets to try and steal one of my daughters!” Nellie felt her hands starting to change again and stamped down, trying to stop the change.

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“You know I would never leave you, right?” Paren stopped. “Never.”

“I know that,” Nellie immediately felt guilty. Her reaction had been instinctual, a knee-jerk response to what she felt was someone trying to take something from her. Now, she could acknowledge that Paren would never leave her, but… isn’t that what kids did? Eventually?

“I’m sorry,” Nellie sighed. “I just… you and Edwards are so close, and you’re growing up. I mean, kids leave home, right? Then these rat fuck putain pricks come into MY SPACE—” Nellie stopped and took a few breaths. “Sorry, a lot of emotions right now.”

Lucy reached out and rubbed Nellie’s back, the contact feeling like warmth in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Okay, but I can still be here at the same time,” Paren said, interrupting her thoughts. “I mean, that’s what Haven is, right? My own planet. Well, mine and Leah’s and Robot’s. Eventually, I’ll probably want my own star system, but that’s long in the future. It’ll still be part of the Imperium, of course. So, yeah, I’ll always be around.” She smiled, and Nellie felt a scared and hurting part of herself finally heal a little bit.

“How are we doing?” Edwards arrived back with an actual tray of drinks and snacks, all laid out.

Salem sent an automated shuttle for Nellie. It was very slow, and she felt like Salem was either making a point or buying time for her to finish calming down. Probably both, considering it was Salem.

“I totally lost it,” Nellie said with a sigh. “If Paren hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed them.”

“You’re not the only one,” Lucy said, her voice through the speakers, making the empty shuttle seem a bit less empty. “I sent ready order to half the fleet in preparation for an attack on the Benediction.”

“Really?” Nellie laughed. “I’m glad it wasn’t just me.”

“We aren’t going to just let this pass, right?” Lucy asked. “I mean, calmer is one thing…”

“Forgiving is another,” Nellie nodded. “And no, we will not be letting this pass. Just taking another approach. Or we will if this shuttle ever bloody gets to the Bly’s Rest.”

“Allow me,” Lucy said, and the shuttle engines lit up. “You’ll be there in minutes.”

Oh, I missed that,” Nellie smiled. “You know, we really should think about finding a nice quiet moon somewhere and have a little break when this latest disaster is over.”

“Vicky has found the perfect place,” Lucy sounded pleased.

“Ooh, spill,” Nellie said.

“It’s a surprise,” Lucy said teasingly.

“Fine,” Nellie felt herself smiling. “I missed this.”

“Me too,” Lucy said. “You’re coming in to land; I’m going to get back to the other system before something else goes wrong.”

“Thanks, Lucy. Love you,” Nellie said, feeling the shuttle touch down.

“Love you too, go get ‘em.”

Nellie practically skipped off the shuttle, finding a surprised Salem waiting for her on the dock.

“How are we doing now?” Salem asked. “Any bodies or new wars I need to take into account?”

“Nothing like that,” Nellie laughed. “But we had a great chat with Paren. You know, she’s really growing up. I think Carl’s a good influence on her.”

“I’m sure it’s mutual,” Salem said archly. “Now, are we done with the matter?”

“Hmm?” Nellie asked, her mind already returning the results of several ideas she had while on the trip back from the planet. “Oh, absolutely not.”

“Color me surprised,” Salem gave a thin little smile. “And what form will this be taking? Invasion? Sabotage? Asteroids coming out of Transit Space?”

“Hey, I only did that once,” Nellie grinned at the memory. “Very effectively, I might add.”

Salem just gave a slight nod, conceding the point.

“As for your actual question, I want to see Bryant immediately. In my office.”

“I will see if I can prise one of the cents out of hiding to go fetch him,” Salem said pointedly.

Nellie felt good as she stopped by the HyperDrive cafe and gave Weasel and Oodles a quick cuddle before heading up to her office with a couple of cups of fresh HyperDrive.

Bryant was waiting nervously by the door to her office.

“Thank you for coming,” Nellie said, ushering him in and pointing to one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Have a HyperDrive.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Bryant nodded uncertainly. “How can I help you?”

“The Sagacity has pissed me off, Merchant Bryant,” Nellie said brightly as she sat down, pulling her chair into the desk and leaning forward.

“How unfortunate for them,” Bryant said, sweating slightly. “I hope I am not considered to be a part of that?”

“Quite the reverse,” Nellie said. “How have things been going with the goggles? I assume they have reacted?”

“They certainly have,” Bryant nodded. “A campaign of sanctions against those using the goggles or buying them from us, in addition to smearing our technology and outlawing it within Sagacity space.”

“And we have responded by?” Nellie asked.

“Doing nothing so far,” Bryant said anxiously. “It’s just that we are still selling them as fast as we can produce them, not to mention that there are plenty of people who want to buy them under the table or through an intermediary. A rather thriving black market has..” he coughed, “..arisen.”

“You run that?” Nellie asked bluntly.

“I do,” Bryant said, starting to sweat. “I figured that since someone would start one—”

“It should be you.” Nellie smiled. “Perfect. Berenice would be proud.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Bryant beamed.

“Well, she is busy at the moment, and I am no trader,” Nellie said, “so you will have to help me, Merchant Bryant.”

“If I can, of course,” Bryant bobbed his head.

“Then tell me, Bryant, how do we break the Sagacity?” Nellie asked.

“I am no soldier or tactician, Ma’am,” Bryant said, visibly starting to sweat. “Surely one of your military—”

“I know how to do it with a fleet,” Nellie grinned broadly. “Tell me how we do it with credits.”

“Ah!” Bryant relaxed, starting to smirk a little. That is a different matter entirely.” He coughed again, clearly a nervous tic of some form. “I have spent some time considering that, as it happens.”

“Parfait,” Nellie said. “Tell me everything.”

/===<<<>>>===\

Cheape took the Queen’s call in the sleeping compartment of the Ranger. They had to stop and raise a long mast to enable the signal to be strong enough, but when a Queen called, you answered.

“Queen Lucy, how can I be of service?” Cheape asked brightly.

“I would like a favor, Emissary Cheape,” Lucy said, her face a strange mix of anger and joy. It was pretty disturbing.

“Anything I can do, I will be happy too, Your Highness,” Cheape responded immediately.

“I have a little project I need to complete, but I need to do it somewhere away from prying eyes. I would like to send a silicate couple I met down to set up a small research dept in that lovely big building in Stone Break. They won’t interfere with your work, I promise. They just need somewhere quiet.” Lucy said, an edge to her voice that had the hairs on the back of Cheape’s neck standing on end. “It’s not a weapon or anything like that,” Lucy frowned, suddenly staring at Cheape intently. “Actually, you know what… I trust you.”

“Thank you, Ma’am?” Cheape really wanted to know what this was about.

“The Sagacity has pissed us off, and I want to make a point. Their learning system is their cornerstone. I want to start from scratch and create a better one. Thoughts?”

“I did have one,” Cheape replied, crossing her fingers this was not a mistake. “But I don’t want to overstep.”

“No, please,” Lucy said. “I think you have the most experience with the actual application of the things out of anyone in the Imperium.”

“Their flaw is their size,” Cheape replied. “They are big, bulky, and fixed in place.”

“A design necessity due to their full immersion nature,” Lucy nodded.

“But do they need to be?” Cheape asked. “Couldn’t someone create the same effect by intercepting signals from the brain and feeding responses directly back to them?”

“Oh, that’s… brilliant!” Lucy smiled broadly. “In fact, you’re right. That is their weakness. That is where we strike. A logical, efficient solution. Salem is right about you, Cheape. You are an absolute star.”

“Th-thank you, Ma’am.” Cheape blushed.

“Call me Lucy,” the queen said with a radiant smile. “I’ll get those people sent along shortly. Thanks again.”

Cheape was feeling excessively stunned as she stepped out of the sleeping quarters and back onto the central platform. Had that just happened?

She headed for the railings on the side of the Ranger to process the last few minutes but only made it halfway there when TRV-4 burst out of the cab.

“Ruins!” TRV-4 yelled excitedly. “We have detected ruins!”

“What? Where?” Cheape frowned.

“The hill to the northwest is not, in fact, a hill!” TRV-4 said, bouncing up and down in his excitement. “It is a building! A tall building with metal and stone and stairs and hollows inside and all manner of fascinating things!”

“A hidden facility?” Cheape paled. She had read quite a bit about the kind of ‘facilities’ the Imperium had found around the neighboring system. It was not the kind of place she wanted to be anywhere near.

“No! A ruin!” Tee said with evident delight. “It is entirely above ground, and the accumulated dirt and plant growth suggests it is hundreds of years old. At least!”

“Oh,” Cheape smiled. Some remanent of the local history was a very different proposition. “Well, in that case, we better go have a look.”

“Yes!” Tee punched the air. “Thank you!” He swept forward, and before Cheape could react, he kissed her hard on the lips, dipping her backward before standing up straight again and dashing off to the rear compartments. “I must prepare!”

“Blimey,” Alma said, grinning as she wandered over. “I was just coming to ask if we should head for those ruins. Hope I didn’t interrupt?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“No, no,” Cheape said a little breathlessly. “He’s just excited. I don’t think his people do that kind of thing.”

“Yeah?” Alma grinned. “Because the last time someone kissed me like that, I ended up married to them. How sure are you they don’t do that kind of thing?”

“Uh, not entirely?” Cheape admitted.

“Well, if they don’t,” Alma said, “I think one of ‘em might want to learn.”

“Alma!” Cheape laughed.